Perhaps the most difficult skill to master in sport is that of hitting a baseball. From a mere 60 feet 6 inches away, the baseball is hurled toward the plate at speeds of over 90 miles per hour, the ball capable of performing numerous aerodynamic tricks (some within the rules, some not) along the way. In a very brief period of time, the batter must locate the ball, decide whether or not to swing, and then react in time to make contact with the ball. A batter who hits "safely" about 30% of the time is considered highly successful. This does not account for the total number of times that pitches are swung at by the batter, but are either missed or fouled off.
Because of the extreme difficulty in mastering this skill, a baseball player must spend countless hours in batting practice in order to achieve any significant degree of success. The ballplayer must continuously practice to refine or improve the mechanics and timing of the swing. Of a typical baseball player's total time spent batting, the greater part of that time is spent taking batting practice outside of actual game situations.
In order to make the most efficient use of batting practice time, it is important that practice conditions simulate those of an actual game, with the player maintaining a consistently high level of concentration throughout. Because bad habits acquired during batting can be carried over into actual game situations, it is important for a player to block out the distractions and other factors that might impair concentration during batting practice. Over the course of a season that lasts 162 games and extends for a period of over 6 months, this task can prove to be exceedingly difficult to accomplish.
One such factor that can adversely affect the concentration of a ballplayer is that of physical ailments, particularly the nagging minor injuries that inevitably accumulate over the course of the long season. One such injury that occurs regularly to baseball players is that caused by a foul tipped ball striking the foot. While many fans have probably witnessed this occurrence in an actual game, most do not realize the frequency at which foul tipped pitches strike the foot of a batter during a typical season, or the ensuing pain that can adversely affect a hitter's technique thereafter.
While various types of protective devices have been incorporated into or firmly fastened to shoes in order to protect the feet of the wearer, for instance the metal plated toe of a working boot, or a catcher's shin guard that shields the top of the foot, such devices are not practical for a baseball player either during batting practice or in an actual game. Conventional shields or plates of this type would simply be too bulky and would impair the normal foot movement of a batter during the swing, either due to the added weight of the device or the physical restriction of foot movement that results when the device is attached to the shoe. Moreover, a plate of this type attached to a baseball player's shoe could not be worn in an actual game without seriously affecting the player's ability to run the bases. Other attachable shields such as the baseball shoe safety protector disclosed in Herman U.S. Pat. No. 3,481,055 suffer this same disadvantage. That is, the physical restriction to movement renders use of the device in actual game conditions to be simply out of the question.
While it may be possible that such a device could be devised for use in batting practice only, batting practice would then not simulate the hitting conditions of an actual game. Unlike a batting glove, which prevents hand blisters during practice and in actual game conditions in a manner which does not interfere with the batter's swing, the use of a protective plate during batting practice only could result in the ballplayer's acquiring bad habits that adversely affect his performance in actual game conditions.
It is an object of this invention to provide a protective device for the foot of a baseball player that can be worn during batting practice in a manner such that practice conditions do not noticeably differ from those of actual game conditions.
It is another object of this invention to provide a protective device for the foot of a baseball player that can be worn both in batting practice and in actual games, without adversely affecting the ballplayer's ability to run the bases during actual games.